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William H. Perkins, a prominent
Tasmanian film lecturer and director,
recommended Adrian Jacobson to the
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AFI Board. Adrian had a strong
connection to the cinema, growing up
around it when his father Ollie worked
there as a projectionist. Adrian was
now a teacher, but when he was
approved by the AFI Board, he was
more than happy to return to his initial
passion of film. He would remain as
manager for twenty-four more years.
The reputation the State Cinema
today - a place of quality entertainment
- was developed during Adrian’s time. A
year after he took on the manager role,
he was quoted as saying, “I see it [the
State] as a cinema service rather than a
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commercial business”. By providing
an alternative, the cinema often stood on
shaky ground. Nevertheless, with
government grants and AFI funding,
Adrian kept the cinema from being
consumed by Hollywood.
By 1984 the AFI was in financial
difficulties. Operating three cinemas
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nationwide had put them ‘in the red’.
One solution considered was to sell the
State. As soon as the public heard of
this, there was uproar. The Save the
State Committee was formed and dozens
of letters were mailed out asking for
pressure to be placed on the Australian
Film Commission and the AFI to help
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secure the cinema’s future.
In August, newly appointed AFI
chairman Frank Maloney flew to
Hobart to justify the planned sale. He
addressed a hostile crowd of four
thousand people. Cramming the cinema
wall to wall, they jeered. Those who
could not fit inside protested from the
park next door, braving the sleet and
rain and listening to Maloney’s speech
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on a loud speaker. This overwhelming
support proved to the AFI that
alternative and independent films were
still valued by the people of Tasmania.
The decision to sell was overturned:
Adrian and the patrons of the cinema
could claim a victory for art-house film.
In 1997 profits from the success of
the Australian film Shine paid for major
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renovation at the State. Starting in
November, the floor was tiered,
improvements to keep out extraneous
light and sound were made, the seats
were re-upholstered and seating
From the top: the State in its current livery; the two projectors beneath the linked
capacity increased. This facelift
exhaust ducts are 35mm Centrex. On either side of them are 16mm Bauer machines.
complemented the Dolby Surround
The small lamp-house (right) is a slide projector assembled by the late Ollie Jacobson;
Sound System, which had been installed
view from the stage. 8
a few months before. The business was
now ready for the new millennium.
8 2007 CINEMARECORD